Korea: from Teargas to Candlelight

Korea’s democratic transition was perfectly encapsulated by the release last year of ‘1987’, a movie that on the one hand addressed the forgotten and often hidden scars of Korean democratization and on the other reminds us how far we have come in the past 30 years. While people protested the corruption of President Park through almost festival-like candlelight vigils, in theaters, we were reminded of the violent repression of the 1987 June struggles, leading to the deaths of two students, Park and Lee.

The contrast between the people’s protests, despite teargas, violence and even incidental deaths, in 1987 and the 2017 candlelight revolution couldn’t be bigger. It lays bare a generational gap between those who grew up before the June struggles and those who grew up after, and is a testament to the democratic achievements of 1987.

In 1987, democratic protests achieved the direct election of our president, opening the door for a just and non-violent political system. In 2017, nationwide demonstrations allowed us to impeach a president who according to many had abused her power for too long. Will we be able to make the final leap and make Korea a truly participatory democracy? In this Newsletter, among other stories, we will look at the context for direct democratic reform in Korea today.

Jung-Ok Lee,

Professor of Sociology, Daegu Catholic University and Member of the board of Democracy International

30 years in the making

South Korea has come a long way in the 30 years since the "June Struggle" kickstarted the democratisation process. Read Jung-Ok Lee's full article on South Korea's transformation here:

With the presidency of former democracy activist and human rights lawyer Moon Jae-in hopes for a reinvigorated South Korean direct democracy are stronger than ever. Democracy International founder Daniel Schily spoke to Yoon Lee of the Korea Democracy Foundation.

The most successful companies have learned how to continuously adapt to new challenges, if we want to make our societies more resilient, we need to do the same for our democracies. Dr. Raban Fuhrmann of the Learning Democracy Academy explains.

Taiwan`s parliament, the Legislative Yuan, approved a comprehensive revision of the Referendum Act. With this historic decision, modern direct democracy is about to take an important step forward in Asia, as it will become easier to launch citizens’ initiatives and to conduct valid referendums.

The Australian parliament recently passed the same-sex marriage bill. But it was the Australian people themselves who paved the way by voting ‘yes’. This has whetted the appetite for more reforms, which in the past have been rejected – due to a democracy model imported from Switzerland.

All roads lead to Rome – Join us for the 2018 Global Forum on Modern Direct Democracy

How can we as citizens make a difference at the global level? How can the world’s cities link up to magnify their impact and reach on a global scale? These are some of the questions we will address at the 7th Global Forum on Modern Direct Democracy, in Rome.